Like straight out of a time capsule from the late 1990s or early 2000s, Moonlight Sorcery come bursting onto the scene with their debut album Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle. Fresh off the backs of two EPs, with their debut Piercing Through the Frozen Eternity being incredible (and making my EP list last year), expectations from me were pretty high for this band to deliver in 2023 on their debut full length. Sounding like a combination of early Children of Bodom and early Wintersun, this band seek to transport you back to the times of almost Neoclassical Melodic Black Metal that was prevalent 20 years ago (wow, I’m old). It brings me great pleasure to say that they’ve succeeded in making a compelling debut album that I find hard to pull myself away from.
Put quite simply, Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle is nine tracks of pure, unadulterated fun. Each track boasts impressive guitar work, fiery solos, and synths that help create an icy atmosphere. Album highlights include “Yönsilmä”, with its clean guitar-noodling intro, instrumental shredfest “The Moonlit Dance of the Twisted Jester’s Blood-soaked Rituals”, and closing epic “Suden tie (Wolven Hour II)”. Each of these songs showcase the strength of Moonlight Sorcery: the ability to write compelling, fun songs. Instrumental interludes in albums more often than not are pointless, mostly ambient pieces that do nothing to add to the momentum of the previous tracks, instead slowing the pace generated by the previous tracks. There are instances where the band divests from the sheer speed and recalls contemporary Melodic Black Metal acts such as Vorga (“Fire Burns the Horizon”) or slows down to more of a mid-pace that adds in a dash of melancholy (“Into the Silvery Shadows of Night”). Songs like these show the band is capable of more than just fun Children of Bodom nostalgia. Fans of their EPs might be slightly disappointed at the clearer production as opposed to the more frostbitten sound, especially on the debut EP, but it showcases a clear evolution in sonic direction. If Moonlight Sorcery continue in this direction on future releases, this could be the band that fans of early Children of Bodom or Wintersun have been looking for over the past 20 years. An incredibly impressive debut, and one that will feature on my year end list.
